"The Hamptons Modern has assembled a consortium of California-based and local architects dedicated to bringing together the best of both worlds"
DONALD WEXLER
Of the five gifted architects of the mid-20th-century architectural “Golden Age”, only Donald Wexler (born 1926) survives as the last living link to the period. Wexler is the recipient of many awards and he is the second of only three architects to receive a star on the Palm Springs Walk of Fame.
Raised in Minneapolis, Donald graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1950 after serving in the Navy during World War II . He moved to Los Angeles to work for Richard Neutra, and subsequently moved to Palm Springs to work for William Cody. In 1952, he partnered with Richard Harrison, creating the firm of Wexler & Harrison. In 1963 he formed Donald A. Wexler Associates and developed an expertise in prefabricated steel construction, best visualized in the Alexander Steel Houses. Wexler has designed dozens of custom homes, including the famous Dinah Shore house, and as many as 200 houses over the past 50 years. Other projects include the Palm Springs Airport, Spa Hotel Bath House and the Canyon Country Club Clubhouse, as well as many commercial, institutional and public buildings.
He has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Palm Springs Modern Committee and a retrospective of Wexler’s work will be featured at the Palm Springs Art Museum in 2011.
FORM ARCHITECTURE + INTERIORS
Brent Leonard and Sean Webb RA established Form Architecture and Interiors (FormArch) in 1998 as a full service architecture and design firm. Form has worked successfully and created long term relationships with clients to create unique living environments that suit the various stages of their lives. Homes are created to answer all of their needs as well as provide carefully crafted space that is rejuvenative, inspiring and authentic. Their architecture lands gently in often sensitive environments and creates an inner world for its occupants.
Form’s work in the California desert on vacation homes has informed much of its work in the Hamptons, incorporating light and shadow and subtle materiality as key building blocks for giving space a soul. Seamless indoor outdoor living has been applied to Form’s Hamptons projects, developing sound construction details that emulate the zero detailing that makes the aesthetically pleasing California experience practical in the northeast.
LANCE O'DONNELL
Fourth generation Palm Springs area native Lance O’Donnell has had a lifelong connection to desert living. In 1991 Lance received his Bachelor of Architecture degree, with honors, from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and in 1994 his Master of Architecture degree from UCLA . Upon graduation, he moved back to the desert to teach and practice his new craft.
His Palm Springs office, o2 Architecture, is dedicated to discovering the essence of place. His work engages the senses and intellect with a poetic connection to site and rigorous environmentally crafted modernism. Lance, his wife Regina and son Jonathan designed, built and live in a sustainable hillside home which, in 2009, was certified Platinum in the LEED for Homes program. Since 2002 Lance has had ongoing design collaboration with Don Wexler.
Lance and his office recently completed an extensive remodel of Wexler’s former family home. In 2009 the Wexler House remodel was awarded “Remodel of the Year” from the Palm Springs Modernism Committee.
The Marketing Team
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Mercedes/Berk
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Valerie Feder
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The Board of Advisors
Faith Popcorn | Founder - Faith Popcorn’s BrainReserve
Faith Popcorn is recognized as the foremost trend expert. Her company, Faith Popcorn’s BrainReserve, is the world’s first and leading trend-based, future-focused, industry-agnostic marketing consultancy. For over three decades, Faith Popcorn’s BrainReserve has been the leader in bringing applied futurism to Fortune’s Global 500 Brands. The New York Times describes Ms. Popcorn as “the trend oracle” and Fortune magazine calls her the “Nostradamus of marketing.”
Michael Calman | President - Calman Consulting, LLC
Michael Calman has an extensive background in marketing and merchandising preeminent global luxury and retail brands. He has created innovative products, pioneered new programs & CRM initiatives for multiple channels: specialty and department stores, wholesale, catalogs and internet commerce. Prior to establishing his firm, Calman Consulting, LLC, Mr. Calman served in chief marketing positions for CitationShares, Time Warner’s Digital Marketing Group, Coach, Bergdorf Goodman and Calvin Klein.
Carolyn J. Cole | Chariman - The Cole Group & The Instutite of Economics and Finance
Before founding The Cole Group, Cali Cole was Managing Director and Global Head of Product Development and Marketing for Citi Private Equity. She also served as Head of Marketing and Product Development for Citi/Smith Barney’s Private Capital Group, where she developed a full suite of private equity, hedge funds, exchange funds and real estate funds. Ms. Cole was Chairman of the Institute of Economics and Finance and was also Executive VP and Director of Research at RBC Dominion Securities. Ms. Cole has been a faculty member at the Securities Industry Institute at the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania, and guest lecturer at Harvard University, Graduate School of Business, The Sloan School, MIT, and the William E. Simon Graduate School. She is a graduate of Vassar College and the Stern School of Business, New York University.
Eric Ellenbogen | Co-chairman and Co-CEO of Classic Media, INC
Eric Ellenbogen has spent more than two decades running entertainment companies. He was Broadway Video Entertainment’s first President in1987 and helped build it into New York’s largest independent production and distribution company. Ellenbogen was President and CEO of Marvel Enterprises, Inc., formed ClassicMedia, LLC and later co-founded Boomerang Media, Inc., backed with a $200 million commitment to acquire and manage branded intellectual property across all media. He is a graduate of Harvard College and holds an MBA from UCLA . He has held adjunct professorships at UCLA, Columbia and NYU’s Stern business schools. Ellenbogen is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Public Theater and of the Photography Committee of the Whitney Museum as well as other charitable causes. He lives in NYC and Palm Springs where has owned architecturally significant mid-century properties, including the E. Stewart Williams designed Frank Sinatra House.
John Dermott Mitchell | Chief Operating Officer - Robert Burke Asociates
John brings over twenty years experience as a corporate attorney and business advisor working with the world’s premier luxury brands and conglomerates, such as Giorgio Armani, Calvin Klein, Valentino, Donna Karan, Prada, and Yves Saint Laurent, on the licensing and distribution of their various product lines. John’s work with multinational corporations, including Estee Lauder, Sotheby’s, Paramount Pictures and Gruppo GFT, has included a full range of issues such as intellectual property, contractual relations, product placements, corporate structure and international operations. John has substantial experience structuring joint ventures and strategic alliances and in the preparation and negotiation of contracts and business transactions.
